The present invention relates to shoelaces and mechanisms for facilitating their closure, and, more generally, to various linear tying elements and mechanisms for their closure.
For purposes of description, the description herein is focused on shoelaces, it being understood that the present invention is not limited in scope only to shoelaces and can beneficially be used in various other context, including, but not limited to, the tightening of sandals, belts, packages, cases, and various loads.
Shoelaces have been in widespread use for hundreds of years to secure a shoe to the foot of a user. The conventional shoelace is a smooth linear member made of cloth, leather or plastic. The shoelace is wound through a series of holes arranged in the upper portion of the shoe so as to straddle the opening in the shoe through which the user's foot is inserted into or retracted from the shoe. To use the shoelace the foot is first inserted into the shoe. Then, the two ends of the shoelace are pulled so as to bring the openings in the shoe upper together, thereby tightening the shoe around the foot. The two ends of the shoelace are then tied together so as to prevent the inadvertent loosening of the shoe.
Conventional shoelace arrangements suffer from a number of disadvantages which revolve primarily about the need to tie the two ends of the shoelace together. First, the process of tying the ends together is relatively time consuming and requires a certain amount of skill and manual dexterity which is not always available. For example, anyone watching a young child struggle with his or her shoelaces would appreciate the complexity of the task. Similarly, many elderly and incapacitated persons with impaired vision and/or impaired manual abilities, find it difficult or impossible to negotiate the intricate maneuvering involved in tying a shoelace.
Another disadvantage of tying a shoelace together in the conventional manner is that in the act of tying the shoelace the shoelace is able to withdraw somewhat from the hands of the user which results in the sometime considerable loosening of the fit of the shoe about the user's foot. In addition, there is a tendency for the knot to loosen and, in some cases, to become completely undone, requiring the retying of the laces.
Various solutions have been proposed. Perhaps the most successful to date has been the use of quick-fastening mechanisms, such as Velcro. While these mechanisms greatly facilitate the tightening of the shoe, these mechanisms suffer from the disadvantage that the connection is made in only one or two locations along the shoe upper. This is in contrast with the continuous and uninterrupted connection over a large portion of the shoe upper which is provided by conventional shoelace connection. The Velcro-type mechanisms suffer from the further disadvantage that the undoing of such a connection is usually accompanied by a distinct noise which some people find rather annoying.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a shoelace and related shoelace shoe mechanism which will provide the continuous tightening of conventional shoelaces but which will facilitate the rapid and easy tying, using a single continuous motion, of the shoelaces without the loosening which attends the tying of conventional shoelaces.